Gearbox's Randy Pitchford tweets that the Mechromancer DLC for Borderlands 2 will be released today, a week earlier than planned. Here's word, which does not explain why: "So - here's the surprise, Mechromancer for Borderlands 2 is ready about a week earlier than I promised. Oct 9, all platforms. Woo!" Thanks GameSpot.

That's why they call playthrough 2 True Vault Hunter Mode... It's supposed to be harder. Your gear and your level can make a big difference, though; if you can't handle the enemies and/or the quests that you're doing, you might have to go back a little bit and train a while before taking it/them on. Go back to the first playthrough and farm the Warrior to get some better loot, etc. I actually got a unique shotgun the first time I beat him, so I had the impression an orange drop is guaranteed... But after the end of TVHM and farming him a couple dozen times, I learned that that was just lucky, lol.

Also, since beating the game a second time triggers another shift in difficulty across the entire game (basically all content is for level 50), what most people do is SKIP ALL SIDE QUESTS, so that you can complete them later and get better rewards. Not just the random stuff, but the unique ones like Tiny Tina's corrosive pistol or Moxxi's fire shotgun or the elephant gun (scope-less sniper rifle). This is because the side quests don't reset again after you beat TVHM, so you can't even take them until after the Warrior V2 is dead.

Anyway, I thought the Mechro looked kind of cool. But people are seriously going to whine now about TRADE-OFFS in skill specs? I thought you guys were complaining before about them being "just passive bonuses?" Using the Ordered Chaos tree and changing your tactics to favor outright damage over everything else, with the ability to switch that off for some accuracy and health regen when you need it at the cost of losing your built-up stacks of bonus DPS, sounds to me like it actually has a profound effect on how you play. But though I appreciate the early release, it's a bit ill-timed... I'll be finishing Dishonored before I go back to spend more time with BL2.